Who is just beginning the Foster to Adopt process???

Thanks so much for posting this! I start classes next week and am so excited about having a child to care for. I really like what you said when the child asks for their mommy...very encouraging.

It totally depends on how your county and state are structured. I'm in Kansas and our agency is a religious based non-profit that is contracted with the state. Our agency's foster care contract is state-funded, so adoptions are virtually free.

DH and I attended an information session with Children's Bureau of Southern California last month, and have our first official meeting on November 23rd. The hubs is calm as can be, and I'm a nervous wreck! lol We have no children at the moment (although our two dogs sure are needy sometimes!). We're going through a foster agency, but are hoping to adopt only, and have asked for placement with an infant from NB to 1yr. We also left open the possibility of a sibling group, with the second child under the age of 3. What kind of waiting period are we probably going to be looking at once everything gets finalized? I'm wanting to run out and buy stuff right now (all my mom genes are kicking into high gear already!); what sort of set-up should we be looking to get, when we're unsure as to our future placement?

I sent you a PM:)

I just filled out the application, and will be sending it tomorrow! Near San Angelo, TX.

Our stuff was received Thursday at the recruitment agency and then it was sent Friday to Region 3 DSS in SC so yay!!!! I'm going to call Tuesday and confirm that they received it. Region 3 is notorious for not keeping on top of stuff.

We have re-started our process (long story!) and are currently waiting for our approval! We are a military family with no bio kids, and we are hoping to adopt 1-3 kids ages 0-6, boys or girls! Gah! It's so scary and exciting! We are in OK, by the way!

We have our orientation meeting on Tuesday. It's going to be funny because my husband is having nasal surgery on Monday to correct an air flow issue (turbenectomy, his turbinets are extremely swollen and he has less than 8% air flow) so he will be bruised still.

We passed! Our home is open!

my partner and i have been licensed for 21 months. The first six months we were in the computer as adopt. No calls for 7 months. I had it changed to foster adopt. W got calls after that. 17 placements in one year 5 months to 10 years. Most short trm longest four months all went to family. I called around to our resource workers in my county four offices every 1 to three weeks when I had no placemnts. We were placed with a seven month old last month. Goal just changed to TPR. Because they needed a fost/adpt home. We hope we can finalize in spring. Its not over till its over. Its a crazy process but worth the bumpy ride. Good luck to all.

We are JUST starting this process. We went to our info mtg and submitted our agency choice and today got our full application. Very excited and nervous too.

DH and I are beginning the journey to adoption from foster care. We're looking at adoption only, of a child or children who are ward of the state already. We initially said 3-12 years, boy or girl, one or a sibling group of two. We were asked by the social worker if we would take a baby, so we increased the age to 0-12. We didn't want to look like "that" couple who put 0-12 but really had no intention of agreeing to an older child adoption and were hoping for a newborn. We want to parent a child so we don't really mind the age. IMO, different personalities and levels of mental/emotional age have more bearing on a relationship than a chronological age. We applied in June 2012, had the intake interview in August and started the 10 weeks of training immediately, along with the fingerprinting, crim check, extensive questionnaire, and references. We were supposed to start the homestudy process in January 2013 with the social worker who did our training, however her workload was too heavy and we were "outsourced" to a social worker in the next big town, which is 3 hours away. Visits didn't start with her until May 2013 and were stopped in June. She had concerns about some abuse that DH had suffered with as a child and she wanted him to have some additional counselling. Met with a lovely counsellor in August 2013 (also 3 hours away) and travelled weekly to meet with her. In the mean time, the social worker wrote the homestudy report and submitted it. After reading it, the person who signs off on it (who is the boss of our counsellor, by chance) was shocked as it was apparently pretty bad. She asked our counsellor and our original social worker to read it and both of them said that the homestudy didn't sound like us at all and that it was a horrible representation. The final appointment with the counsellor is the end of January 2014. She has reported to her boss (who is the person who will sign off on the homestudy) that she has no concerns about us and she thinks we will be great parents. The counsellor, the first social worker we worked with, and the boss are going to write our homestudy together. Hopefully this means that we'll be approved soon. It has been a long road (especially after 10 years of infertility) but the counselling has been priceless and we're so glad that we have been involved in it. We will be better parents because of it. So, that's our slightly confusing story....and in reality, we haven't even started yet. So much waiting and hard work, but the REAL waiting and REAL hard work is still to come!

My last adoption was finalized January 2009 and I thought I was done. In May, I sent in my application to be re-certified, after thinking and praying about getting number four for a few years. I took the classes in August and was officially open the day after Christmas. I wanted an infant boy as young as possible. On January 31, a seven-week-old boy was placed with me. He's a pure delight. Mom is out of the picture, so it's only dad who can get him back. The outlook right now I would say is 50/50, but for however long he stays a moment, a season, or a lifetime, I'm just enjoying loving on him. I had totally forgotten how much laundry these little tiny things produce. My three other kids, 9 and 6, are just over the moon about him. This rollercoaster has me in closer contact than ever before with the birth family. It's heartbreaking, it's crazy, it's showing me how much of a bubble I live in. If only love was enough, I truly understand what that means now. Because if love was enough my little Teddy would be at home with his dad and his paternal grandma, paternal great aunt, and paternal cousins. I pray for them all.

Sunni12- wanted to give you feedback on your question. You can foster to adopt only children that are eligible for adoption, it will most likely be a older child though, most children under the age of 3 are placed in straight foster care while the process plays out.... and then most of those foster families will adopt that child they are fostering if it comes to adoption. I live in Indiana and that is what we see here, I know every state is different but if you are wanting a young child the foster to adopt would probably be the best route. Every case if different but I was told when we did our training that nationally 2/3rds of the children that come into the system go back with parents and or family.. so you may have to foster several before you finally get the one that stays forever. Also, if a young child is what you want they are for sure out there. We have only had 2 and under in our home and have never been empty since we started this process. We currently have foster child #3 now. This one right now is looking to be our forever child... so right in line with the 2/3rds numbers... best of luck to you...

My husband and I have just started the process :D We have our initial interview on 3/31/14 and then begin classes in April! We are in Maine and hoping to foster to adopt. We don't yet have biological children but i'm sure they will come one day! Because of our ages we are currently only looking to take in a newborn to 2 year old. No gender preference. We are so excited about this journey. I can't wait to be a full time Mom!